Donald Jayantha, Renowned AD turned filmmaker
View(s):By Susitha Fernando
Having madly fell in love with yesteryear cinema and stars like Gamini and Malani Fonseka, young Donald Jayantha determined that one day he would somehow get into the cinema medium. As a student of Kotapola National School in Matara, Donald would skip school to see the matinee show or secretly go out from home to see the late night show. There were many a instances where he got beaten up by the school principal for cutting school or sometimes enacting scenes of the films he had watched previous night to his class. Donald was also punished by his mother for this mischievous madness over cinema.“I will somehow collect 55 cents and would go for 9.30 pm show and would often walk over six kilometers to home as I had missed the last bus.
‘The first film I watched was Lenin Morais’ ‘Awa Soya Adare’ in 1975 in which Gamini and Malani Fonsekas played lead. I watched it at Thusitha cinema in Deniyawa with my grandfather” Donald said.
“Mesmorised by what I saw, I watched ‘Awa Soya Adare’ for 15 times and Yasapalitha Nanayakkara’s ‘Thushara’ for 13 times,’ Donald said with a giggle.
This love for movies lead Donald to join cinema as an assistant director or AD of Dharmasiri Gamage’s renowned film ‘Puja’ (Sacrifice) and for the next 37 years he went on to assist over 60 movies. With his extensive experience in cinema, Donald also directed two films ‘Prawegaya’ and ‘Maya’. In his long journey as an AD, Donald also acted in few teledramas like ‘Eka Mawakage Daruwo’ and ‘Yashorawaya’.
Donald Jayantha
“For me the heroes in Sinhala cinema were GaminiFonseka, Malani Fonseka, Vijeya Kumaratunga, Amerasiri Kalansuriya, Ravinda Randeniya, Geetha Kumarasinghe, Cyril Wickremege, Joe Abeywickrema, Tony Ranasinghe, Somi Rathnayake, Anoja Weerasinghe, Sriyani Amerasena, Veena Jayakoy, Anula Karunathilake and Suweenitha Weerasinghe. And I was so lucky I was able to work with almost all of them when I joined cinema,” Donald said with a contended tone. For Donald the most popular filmmakers are Lenin Morais, Yasapalitha Nanayakkara, Neil Rupasinghe, J. Selvaratnam and Joe Dev Ananda while he has high regards for contemporary filmmakers like Udayakantha Warnasuriya, Priyantha Colambage, Jayantha Chandrasiri and Somarathne Dissanayake.
Donald believes that the stars of yesteryear cinema were simple, more professional and dedicated.
“I personally know some of those big stars would come to the location in a simple dress and go through the script and study it well before getting on to their role. But unfortunately some of these new stars would be delayed for hours and they would be on mobile phones on their way and throughout the stay at the location as well. They would hardly study the script and their roles and this is one of the main reasons for failures in their performances,” Donald said.
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